Romney surges to a tie with Obama in Florida based on new Quinnipiac poll

(Photos: Molly Riley, left,…)

May 3, 2012

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney gained in Florida, a new Quinnipiac UniversityPoll reported Thursday, and he’s now tied with President Barack Obama.

Romney has 44 percent support among likely voters compared to Obama’s 43 percent, statistically a tie within the poll’s margin of error.

It’s clearly good news for the Republican challenger. In a March 28 poll, Obama led Romney in Florida 49 percent to 42 percent.

Since then, Romney solidified his role, going from frontrunner to certain Republican nominee, and the presidential contest has become more of a head to head contrast between the president and the former Massachusetts governor.

One benefit to Romney as the de facto nominee is that he’s no longer subject to attacks from other Republican presidential candidates.

Other Florida findings:

- A small gender gap exists in Florida, with men backing Romney 46 percent to 42 percent while women back Obama 44 percent to 42 percent – too close to call on both counts.

- Voters disapprove of the job Obama is doing by 50 percent to 46 percent and say 50 percent to 45 percent he does not deserve to be reelected.

- On the economy, 70 percent of Florida voters say the economy is in a recession and 51 percent say the recovery has begun. By 49 to 40 percent, voters say Romney would do a better job on the economy.

- Voters approve 49 percent to 39 percent of the way Obama is handling the situation in Afghanistan, but they say 64 percent to 27 percent that the U.S. should not be involved there. Obama’s pace withdrawing troops from Afghanistan is about right, 44 percent of voters say.

- As a possible vice presidential candidate, 40 percent of Florida voters pick favorite son U.S. Marco Rubio. Another 14 percent prefer Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey. No other candidate gets higher than 7 percent.

“The dead heat in Florida appears to be a result of Obama’s decline as much as anything else. In March the president had a 51 – 44 favorability rating compared to 46 – 47 percent today,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “Romney barely moved, from 41 – 36 favorable in March to 40 – 34 percent favorable now.”

Quinnipiac surveyed 1,169 Florida voters from April 25 – May 1. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.